Organic garden care is attainable, cost-effective, and easier than you think.
It’s a common misconception that organic gardening is more time-consuming, expensive, and complicated than what is seen as “ordinary” gardening. In reality, commercial gardens are typically more difficult to keep thriving.
Think about how much time and money you’ve spent on artificial fertilizers, toxic pesticides, constant watering, and replacing plants that don’t take. For the average Torontonian, this can add up to hours of effort and hundreds of dollars spent on garden maintenance over a single season.
Often the reason why plants don’t thrive and require all that extra attention is because they are not naturally suited to the environment they’ve been put in. We can overcome all that resistance by choosing to garden in a way that works with, not against, nature.
The organic method
The term “organic” refers to using an ecological method of garden care that respects and strengthens the natural environment. As organic gardeners, we focus on enhancing the vitality and health of your soil, preserving biodiversity, promoting animal welfare, and preserving the ecological integrity of your garden environment. No synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or GMOs are permitted in organic care.
Legally, “organic” is also a certification that designates you have complied with the rules and standards set out by a certifying board, the Canadian Organic Standards (COS), in the development of a product. With a bit of knowledge and help from your friends at Toronto Horticulture, you can have a beautiful, healthy garden that meets and even exceeds official organic standards!
Our promise to you
Our promise, adapted from the Canadian Organic Standards, includes the following:
to protect your living environment, minimize soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, optimize biological productivity and promote a sound state of health in your garden
to maintain long-term soil fertility in your garden by optimizing conditions for biological activity within your soil
to maintain biological diversity within your ecological system
to recycle materials and resources to the greatest extent possible within your garden space
to provide attentive garden care that promotes the health and meets the behavioural needs of pollinating birds, butterflies, bees, and other essential garden bugs
to carefully prepare and process organic products and handle materials in a manner that maintains the organic integrity and vital qualities of the products at all stages of garden care
to rely on renewable resources in locally organized garden systems as much as possible